A to Z Challenge 2013

Saturday, April 16, 2011

A To Z - NaNo NaNo

I haven't checked, but this may be the topic a lot of people are choosing for N. For me, it's a good choice because when I did attempt NaNo(short for National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo) in 2009, it really invigorated me with a need to write. I hadn't been doing this writing thing very long and NaNo was a great trial by fire.

I ended up not being able to finish NaNo (or to be more accurate, choosing not to finish NaNo). See, I was within one class of graduating with my Bachelors degree and I really needed to focus on my Capstone. I did make a decent showing however, achieving somewhere near 32K words. I had some great moments too, such as when I killed off a character for the first time (by accident, no less).

I do believe I will attempt NaNo again this year, even though I'm back in school going for my Masters degree. For one thing, I'm doing well with organizing my calendar and sticking to it. Fitting in NaNo time shouldn't be too hard. I won't be graduating until this time next year either (God I hope so), so that'll be long after NaNo is done. And despite the fact that most NaNo projects are first drafts, I believe in the usefulness of such a process. Forcing myself to write every single day is a practice I need to get to. If I have the goal of joining in on NaNo this year, I'll bust my butt to get stuff done so that I can.

This is a short post, but before I go, how many of you have done NaNo or are planning on doing it? For those of you who have, what are your thoughts of NaNo? For those of you considering it, if you need an encouraging buddy to help you get there and get through it, yell out. I'm more than happy to help us both succeed in November.

3 comments:

I may unofficially try it... Sorta go through the motions without actually entering. I've probably never written more than a few thousand words before, but I think something like that might motivate me, or at least get me into the mental mode.

About Me

I'm luckily supported by a beautiful and understanding woman. Between her and my two wonderful boys, I find the reasons I need to keep up my attempts at writing. She's very effective at smacking that imp off my back, keeping me from doubting myself, and making me smile. Other than writing, I enjoy finding new & cool musicians/singers/artists, playing games with my sons, and occasionally playing a game or two by myself. Okay, more than occasionally.